ONGOING INITIATIVES

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Make a Property or Building Complaint

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What Is It?

We rely on complaints from the public to identify potential violations of our housing, land use, construction, and other codes. We investigate your complaint and determine whether a property owner violated our rules.

Life-threatening emergencies and / or after-hours noise complaints should be reported to 911.

What It Isn’t

Your complaint does not always lead to an enforcement action. When we investigate, sometimes the owner has already fixed the problem or we discover that the owner has done nothing wrong. Sometimes we may not be able to see the violation.

What Information We Need

The property address of the potential violation.

If our inspectors cannot find a potential violation, we cannot investigate or act to correct it.

If you’re unsure of the address, give us the address of the property next door or a description of the location (such as SE corner of 5th Avenue and Columbia Street).

If the violation is inside a house, apartment or building, our inspector will need to be able to get inside to see it.

Your name and number. We use your contact information in case we have follow-up questions and to tell you about the outcome of your complaint. If you choose, you can submit a complaint anonymously or request your identity remain confidential.

Description of the possible violation.

Where is it on the property?

What is it?

How long has it been happening?

Ways to File Your Complaint

You can file a complaint in one of four ways:

Call our Violation Complaint Line at (206) 615-0808:

For time-sensitive complaints

If you don't have a valid email address

Are unable to fully describe the potential violation using the online form